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Grey-Bruce to get nine more electric car plug-ins

More electric car plug-ins in Grey-Bruce should be working before next March.
The stations will be in Hanover, Meaford, Mount Forest, Owen Sound, Port Elgin, Southampton and Wiarton, and promise to counter "range anxiety" which is a worry about the distance electric cars can travel.
"It's a step in the right direction. I have been advocating this," said Allen Wilford, an Owen Sound lawyer and Georgian Bluffs resident. Wilford has owned his electric car, a Mitsubishi I-MIEV, for three years and says that it was probably one of his best investments.
In a recent announcement, the government of Ontario said that it will invest $20 million province-wide to upgrade charging infrastructure under Ontario's green investment fund. This money will mean 500 new chargers across the province, with nine new chargers for Grey-Bruce, seven of which will be level 3 chargers, also known as superchargers, that can charge an electric vehicle from zero to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.
"What it means is that hopefully more people will buy electric cars. For myself, it benefits me for sure but I don't have any problems with trip anxiety, but the more chargers the more range I can go,” said Wilford.
Wilford said that he runs his electric car at about a penny a kilometre if he charges at home as far as electricity costs.
"It's a chicken and egg thing. We need the chargers to make the people buy the cars and we need the cars to justify the chargers. We went through the same thing with diesel," said Wilford.
Many of the new chargers will be at service industry businesses. Tim Hortons, McDonald's and Ikea have all partnered with the province allowing these charging stations to be placed outside of some their locations.
The Best Western Inn on the Bay was an early adopter of electric car technology in the Owen Sound area.
"What happened in some areas was the merchants realized the advantage. The manager at the Best Western in Owen Sound, here's what he explained to me, if I go down there and charge up for lunch I might take 40 cents worth of electricity. So if I buy a coffee he breaks even, if I buy lunch he makes money, if I decide to stay the night he really makes money. So it's a real plus. Every merchant should have them," said Wilford.
The Best Western's car charger has been getting progressively busier since it was installed three years ago. Jason Hemstock, the general manager at the hotel, said “there are some locals that use it (the hotel's charger) semi-regularly as well as a lot of government vehicles are showing up more and more as electric vehicles.”
He said he believes that the station has contributed to more business and more tourism for his hotel. "We have more guests in the summer season with the tourism that have electric vehicles so its great peace of mind for a guest that has an electric vehicle to know that they can get a charge in this area" said Hemstock. "I would say that this is the way of the future" he said.